The best present
by mirdaishan
Summary: Morgan is supposed to spend Christmas with her family in LA, but when her plans get cancelled, Greg invites her to come and spend Christmas at his place. He just doesn't know what kind of present she has in mind for him when she says 'yes' to his invitation.


**I just couldn't resist doing a little Christmas story... Hope you guys like it!**

It had all she had been talking about for weeks: she was going to spend Christmas with her mother, her stepfather and the rest of her mother's family in LA. She was really looking forward to it as she hadn't seen any of them since she had moved to Vegas. Even though she would be gone for a week, Greg was happy that she was going as he loved seeing her walk around with a huge smile on her face. So when he walked into the breakroom December 23rd and he saw her fighting back tears, he immediately rushed over to her and asked worriedly: "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Never mind, it's not important…"

"If you're close to tears, it has to be important," he said in return. To his relief, she managed a small smile.

"It's my family," she confessed. She shook her head again, looking up at the ceiling to prevent the tears from rolling down her face. "They were all gonna fly to LA today, but there has been a huge snowstorm where they live and their flights were cancelled… They can't leave town, so they can't fly to LA to spend Christmas with us… and now my mother and stepfather have decided they're going to try and drive up to them, so they can at least spend New Year's with them… And I…"

"Am all alone," Greg finished the sentence for her. He fought the urge to hug her. "Oh, Morgan, I'm sorry! I know how much you were looking forward to it!"

"Thanks," she said with a deep sigh. She wiped away her tears. "You probably think I'm stupid, crying over something as silly as this…"

"No, not at all!" he immediately said. "Like I just said, I know how much you were looking forward to it… Hey, can't you spend Christmas with your father?"

"My father is going to spend Christmas with Mrs. Hodges," she told him. He decided not to comment on that and saw she was trying to do the same.

"Hey!" he suddenly said. "Why don't you come over to my place? We can watch a bunch of Christmas movies, drink hot chocolate and eat Christmas cookies until we feel sick and then eat a huge Christmas dinner! What do you say?"

He couldn't hide his enthusiasm. It was a perfect solution! Morgan wouldn't have to spend Christmas all alone and he'd get the chance to spend an entire day away from work with the girl he had had a crush on for over a year.

"Christmas dinner?" she repeated. "You would cook Christmas dinner for me?"

"Yeah, why not?" he said with a big smile on his smile. "Think I'm such a bad cook?"

"No, I just… didn't know you could cook," she confessed.

"So? What do say? Wanna come over and spend Christmas with me?" he asked, trying to hide the hopeful look in his eyes. When she looked at him, he felt butterflies in his stomach and his heart started to beat faster.

"Sure," she suddenly decided. "I'll come over and spend Christmas with you!"

He was unable to hide a huge smile on his face.

Two days later, Christmas arrived. As usual, Greg was up earlier than any other day. Ever since he had been a kid, he had gotten up really early on Christmas morning and rushed to the Christmas tree to check the presents before he even started about getting dressed. Today, he did the same. He rushed downstairs to check the presents under the tree, which all had his own name on them, except for one, before he went back upstairs to take a shower and get dressed. After he had fixed his hair, he made himself breakfast and then waited for Morgan to arrive. The doorbell rang around ten o'clock and he immediately hurried over to the door, taking a deep breath to calm down again. For the past few years, he really had become a responsible adult, but on Christmas, he always felt like a kid again.

"Morning!" he greeted Morgan. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too!" she smiled back at him. She handed him a present. "I wasn't sure if you were going to get me something, but I got you this anyway."

"Thanks!" he said, stepping aside to let her in. "Do you mind if I put it under the tree for now? I always open presents after dinner."

"Oh, sure!" she nodded. She followed him to the living room, where she whistled softly at all the Christmas decorations. "Wow, Greg… It looks amazing! Do you do this every year?"

She admired the beautiful table where Greg had built a small town with lighted buildings.

"If I don't have to work, I do, yes," Greg admitted. "I don't know what it is, but I just love Christmas!"

He saw Morgan smiling at his child-like enthusiasm.

"I do too," she then confessed. "Thanks for letting me come over, Greg. Being here is really bringing back the Christmas feeling! When my mother called me and told me everything, I kinda lost it…"

"Don't think about that!" he quickly said, seeing the thought of her family made her sad again. He pointed towards the tower of DVDs on his coffee table. "Why don't you pick out the first movie to watch? I think I've probably got every Christmas movie ever made!"

To his relief, she smiled. "I can see that! Where did you get all of these? Don't tell me they're all yours!"

"No, don't worry!" he reassured her with a smile. "A few of them are mine, but I borrowed most of them from people at work. Sara gave me her favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually, Russell of course gave me a classic version of A Christmas Carol and his granddaughter Katie advised me to watch Mickey's Magical Christmas, snowed in at the House of Mouse…"

Morgan grinned. "Really? Ah… You know we're going to have to watch it now, right?"

"Sure!" Greg said, grinning as well. "Just pick one to watch first of all, I'll get you some hot chocolate and freshly baked Christmas cookies, okay?"

Morgan raised her eyebrows. "You baked Christmas cookies?"

"Well… yeah…"

She nodded with a smile on her face. "Impressive… and unexpected! But I can't wait to try them!"

"I'll be right back," Greg promised. He hurried over to the kitchen, made them both hot chocolate, put whipped cream on top of it and returned to the living room with a bowl full of Christmas cookies. She took one mug from him and smiled. "Let's make a toast, okay? To our Christmas!"

He carefully touched her mug with his own. "To our Christmas!"

'Their' Christmas turned out to be an amazing day. They watched Christmas movies together (Morgan first wanted to watch her own favorite Christmas movie, the first part of the Chronicles of Narnia series, after which they continued with Christmas classics as Home Alone and Home Alone 2), ate lunch while watching Mickey's Magical Christmas and then talked about the best and worst presents they had gotten for Christmas. Around four o'clock, Greg went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, while Morgan watched Love Actually. He had suggested she'd watch that movie on purpose, as he knew she'd want to see it and he wasn't sure if watching a romantic movie with her was something he could do without confessing how he felt. So, while she watched, he concentrated on dinner and tried to not think about how incredibly beautiful she looked today.

After setting the table, he went back to the living room, where he saw Hugh Grant kissing a dark-haired woman on the screen.

"Eh… I don't know if this is the right moment, but dinner's ready," he said hesitantly. Morgan smiled and paused the DVD. "Don't worry, I've seen this movie so often I could probably dream the end! Plus, I'm hungry… even after all those Christmas cookies! If dinner is only half as good as those, I'm in trouble!"

Only five minutes later, she had to admit she was indeed in trouble.

"How come I didn't know what an amazing cook you are?" she said. "No, wait, I'm actually glad I didn't know, because if I had known sooner, I probably would have come over for dinner every day and I'd look like this by now…"

She held out her arms to show him what she meant. He smiled at her. "Don't worry, no matter how big you are, I'll still think you're beautiful."

He had said it before thinking about it. Now his cheeks turned red with embarrassment. Luckily, she just smiled at him. "Thanks, Greg, that's really sweet."

She continued eating, not saying anything else about the compliment. After a few more minutes, she changed the subject and the moment was forgotten about.

After dinner, Greg cleaned up the kitchen, while Morgan watched the end of Love Actually. He asked if she wanted something to drink, but she just groaned: "Nothing, please, I'm so full I won't have to eat again until Christmas next year!"

Laughing, he sat down next to her on the couch. "Wanna open your present now?"

"Yeah!" She sat up excitedly and got a child-like grin on her face. "What did you get me?"

He handed her a big present, which weighed a lot less than she had expected.

"If you don't like it, just tell me and I'll get you something else," he said, looking a little worried. "It's just… I saw this and I kinda wanted to get it for you… Remember that you told me once that your dad got you a puzzle of the Empire State Building and that you put it together in six hours, all by yourself?"

"Yeah, I remember…" She removed the wrapping of her present and let out a cry of happiness. "A 3D puzzle of the Eiffel Tower! Oh my gosh, Greg, I love it! Thank you so much!"

She leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek to show him how much she liked her present. He smiled shyly. "You're welcome…"

"Now open yours!" She handed him the present he had put under the tree earlier that day. Curiously, he started unwrapping it. It turned out to be a cd with jazz music.

"I saw it and it was just screaming out your name," she confessed. "You like it?"

"I love it!" he honestly told her with a huge smile on his face. "Thank you so much! Do you mind if I put it on straight away?"

Without waiting for her reply, he started getting up, but she stopped him.

"Wait, Greg," she said with a small sigh. He sat down again and looked at her. She sighed again. "There's another thing I'd like to give you, but I'm not sure if you're going to like it… Well, actually I think you will like it, but I'm just not too sure and…"

"Maybe you should just give it to me and I will let you know whether I like it or not," he suggested, smiling at her rambling.

"Right!" she nodded. "This is something I've been wanting to give you for a long time, but I never managed to find the right moment. I hope this is…"

He expected her to get something for her pocket or her bag, but instead she bent towards him and kissed him so softly he felt dizzy. Before he could respond to her kiss, she already pulled back and looked at him with a rather guilty look. "I'm sorry if you didn't like it, but I just had to do it… I don't know what happened, but somehow during the past year I guess I kinda started to fall in love with you and I just didn't know how to tell you and then I started thinking I shouldn't tell you, but I really wanted to, so I thought I could do it like this, especially since we have been talking about the best and worst presents we have gotten, even though I kinda hope this isn't going to be on your list of worst presents ever and…"

He knew only one way to get her to stop talking: he pulled her close and kissed her. When they broke apart, he looked deep into her beautiful eyes.

"Don't worry," he reassured her. "This is the best present I've ever gotten!"


End file.
